AJC Peachtree Road Race ends with photo finish

ATLANTA — Lightning forced officials to delay the second half of the 2015 AJC Peachtree Road Race.

Officials issued an "extreme" alert level message just before 8:30 a.m. and encouraged runners to stop and seek out event officials for instructions.

The race resumed about 30 minutes later as some lingering showers moved out of the area.

Thousands of runners made the trek down Peachtree Road under cloudy skies and rain before the delay.

Severe Weather Team 2 meteorologist Brian Monahan said the rain outlook would improve throughout the morning and early afternoon.

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"The strong storms overnight have come and gone but we have several pockets of rain across metro Atlanta," Monahan said.

A flash flood watch remains in effect for all of north Georgia until Sunday at 8 p.m., with another 1- to 3-inches of rain expected.

Organizers of the race said the only weather that would postpone the race would be lightning, and they've never had to cancel. The lightning came at about 8:30.

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Channel 2 Action News has reporters staged across the race route from Buckhead to Midtown Atlanta.

Channel 2's Jessica Jaglois stood at the finish line Saturday, where the wheelchair division winners crossed just after 7 a.m.

Kurt Fearnley won the men's wheelchair division and Tatyana McFadden won the women's wheelchair division.

Alexi Pappas won the women's open race, and Scott Overall won the men's race in a photo finish.

It's the 46th running of the world's largest 10k race. There are 60,000 registered runners and more than 3,000 volunteers.

WSBTV